Reynolds Authors Opinion Piece on the Opportunity Brexit Gives to the UK to Rewrite Financial Rules

Partner Barnabas Reynolds (London-Financial Institutions Advisory & Financial Regulatory) wrote an opinion piece, titled “Brexit Affords UK Chance to Rewrite Archaic EU Financial Laws,” that was published by The Hill on January 31.

In the piece, Reynolds discusses the opportunity that Brexit presents to the UK to change how it does business through a regulatory re-fit to remove unnecessary and burdensome EU financial regulation. This would, he argues, be good for the financial markets and good for the UK. He proposes two options that the UK has for its future. The first is an equivalence-based arrangement with the EU, along the lines used by other countries (such as the United States) for some aspects of trading with the EU. This would be the model to be adopted if the preferred outcome is continuity of current distribution arrangements across the EU. Alternatively, he sets out a “standalone” model which would free the UK from the requirement to have equivalent rules to the EU at all. EU customers would revert to the traditional practice of coming to the UK markets for their financing needs and would benefit from a much more free-market UK regime.